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Rules and Regulations for Word-wise's 2008 Short Writing Contest

Admin Maven, publisher of the ezine Word-wise, is sponsoring a short writing contest. This contest is a search for new, unpublished writers with promise. As many as three winners will be selected in 2008.

Contest Rules

• Entries may be submitted no earlier than January 1, 2008, and will be accepted until three winners are identified OR December 31, 2008, whichever comes first.
• There is no cost to enter.
• Entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Exception may be made for entrants of at least 12 years of age if submission is accompanied by a verifiable letter of permission from a parent or legal guardian.
• Entrants must never have entered a publishing contract. Entries in a personal blog or letters to the editor will not disqualify an author. Other previous noncontractual publications must be disclosed in submission cover message.
• Any form and genre of prose is acceptable for this competition: fiction, observational essay, humor, etc. Poetry is not eligible.
• Subject matter and vocabulary must be "PG-rated."
• Total length of writing must be 500-1500 words, including any necessary notes or citations.
• Writing must be original, never before published, and exclusively the work and property of the person who submits it. Ghostwritten work is not eligible. Work that appears to be plagiarized will not be accepted and, if provably unoriginal, will be reported to its true author!

Prizes

• $50 cash.
• professional editing of their winning entries courtesy of Admin Maven.
• publication of their entries in Word-wise.
• recognition via press releases announcing the winning entries and introducing the authors.
• an additional three hours of VA service courtesy of Admin Maven.

How to Enter

• Save your completed writing as a Word, WordPerfect, Open Document, or plain text file.
• Title the file with your first and last name. For example, Elton Smith would title his Word document thus: elton-smith.doc.
• E-mail the file as an attachment to contest2008@adminmaven.com. Use the subject line "Word-wise Writing Contest" to avoid being relegated to the spam bin.
• Entries submitted before the opening date of January 1, 2008, will be deleted. Once the contest closes, further entries will be deleted.

Additional Details

• Although the prize package includes editing, this is not intended to take the place of careful and thoughtful crafting initiated by the writer. Entries that are still in "rough draft" condition will be deemed ineligible. For the purposes of this contest, editing provided by Admin Maven will be limited to proofreading corrections (minor spelling, usage, punctuation, typos, etc.), consistency checking, and possibly occasional word choice suggestions.
• Style and development suggestions will not be offered, and entries that require such extensive editing will be disqualified.
• Writers who seek more thorough editing or even rewriting services may purchase them from Admin Maven separately, but those writings will not be eligible for this contest.
• Admin Maven maintains high editing standards for Word-wise. For this reason, writers must be willing to accept and apply editing suggestions made by Admin Maven before prizes beyond professional editing (publication in Word-wise, press release publicity, and additional VA service hours) will be awarded. Writers unwilling to make suggested edits forfeit the remainder of the prize package but are not in any way obligated to Admin Maven.
• Regardless whether they are chosen for publication, all entries remain the property of their authors. Admin Maven will not retain submitted files any longer than it takes to evaluate whether they are in the running for prizes. Rest assured your work will not be collected, stolen, reprocessed, or otherwise hijacked from your control.
• Winning writers, as the owners of their work, will not be required to get approval from Admin Maven before republishing their work after it appears in Word-wise. However, republishers may require writers to disclose Word-wise's publication of the work. Admin Maven makes no assumptions of any other publication's regulations and urges winning writers to seek direct clarification before proceeding with republication.
• A writer who submits an entry that does not win is welcome to later submit additional entries. However, once a writer accepts any or all of the prizes listed above, he or she may not enter the 2008 Short Writing Contest again.
• In order to give ample publicity to all winners, each will be spotlighted in a separate issue of Word-wise. Winners will be notified which issue will carry their work well in advance of publication.
• Winning this contest in no way guarantees or implies the writer will be published elsewhere, and Admin Maven makes no assurances of such.

Submission of an entry constitutes acceptance of all these terms. Determination of entrants' eligibility under all of these rules is at the sole discretion of Admin Maven.